Action Spotlight

End the war and blockade in Yemen imposed by the Saudi-led coalition which the U.S. is refueling. Urge your Representative to co-sponsor the Khanna-Massie resolution. Urge your Rep. to take action!
Img: Medecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders)

Action Alerts

An analysis by Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) has found that the purportedly liberal cable network MSNBC did not run a single segment devoted specifically to the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen in the second half of 2017, even though – or perhaps because – the U.S. government has played a key role in creating the catastrophe. During this period MSNBC ran nearly 5,000 percent more segments that mentioned Russia than segments that mentioned Yemen.In all of 2017, MSNBC only aired one broadcast on the U.S.-assisted Saudi airstrikes that have killed thousands of Yemeni civilians. And it never mentioned Yemen’s cholera epidemic, which infected more than 1 million Yemenis in the largest outbreak in recorded history, a direct result of the U.S.-assisted Saudi/UAE war and blockade.[1]

The only realistic alternative to endless war in Afghanistan is a negotiated peace that includes all the major Afghan factions and all the neighboring countries that are supporting major Afghan factions in the Afghan civil war, including Pakistan, India, Iran, and Russia. The Obama and Bush Administrations never seriously pursued a negotiated peace. So far, the Trump Administration is simply continuing the Bush-Obama policy of adding just enough American soldiers to prevent the Taliban from completely taking over Afghanistan, without doing anything diplomatically and politically to end the war.

Urge your Rep. & Senators to press the Trump Administration to commit to real diplomacy to end the war in Afghanistan by signing our petition at MoveOn.

On June 13, only five Democratic Senators voted to keep arming Saudi Arabia's famine-inducing war in Yemen: Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Mark Warner of Virginia, Bill Nelson of Florida, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia. The vote was 47-53. If these five Democrats had voted with the Senate Democratic leadership and the majority of Senate Democrats - that is, if they had voted like Democrats, like they did on Trumpcare - the Senate would have voted to block the Saudi arms deal.

Senator Todd Young [R-IN] and Senator Jeff Merkley [D-OR] have introduced amendments on the National Defense Authorization Act [NDAA] which would block the arming of Saudi Arabia's war crimes in Yemen. Senator Young's amendment would prohibit any arms transfers to Saudi Arabia until the Saudis stop bombing hospitals and stop blocking humanitarian aid. Senator Merkley's amendment would prohibit the transfer of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia.

Call your Senator now at (202) 224-3121. When you reach a staffer or leave a message, you can say something like:

"Stop arming Saudi war crimes in Yemen. Co-sponsor the Young and Merkley amendments."

More than a million malnourished children are living in areas of Yemen hit hardest by a cholera outbreak, NPR reports. Malnourished children have substantially reduced immune systems and are at least three times more likely to die if they contract cholera. Yemen's cholera outbreak is already the world's worst in a single year since records have been kept. Treatment for cholera in Yemen would be straightforward, if it weren't for the U.S.-enabled Saudi-UAE war in Yemen.

UNICEF director Anthony Lake was clear when asked by The Associated Press about how to end the disaster: "Stop the war."

So far, the House Republican leadership has blocked a floor vote on ending U.S. participation in Saudi Arabia's Yemen war. But House Members could force a floor vote by invoking their Congressional war powers, since, as Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Corker has acknowledged, Congress never authorized this war.

Last week, efforts to get a floor vote in the House on U.S. participation in the Saudi-UAE famine-war in Yemen on the Defense Appropriation were blocked by the House Republican leadership.

There's only one path left to force a floor vote in the House on U.S. participation in the Saudi famine-war: press House Members to use their Congressional war powers to force a debate and vote on withdrawing unauthorized U.S. participation from Saudi Arabia's war - just as Dennis Kucinich forced a House vote on U.S. participation in the unauthorized war in Libya in 2011.

U.S. participation in Saudi Arabia's war is politically vulnerable in the House, if we can force a vote:

- Congress has never authorized U.S. participation in Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen. Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen has nothing to do with the U.S. wars on Al Qaeda or ISIS.
- U.S. participation in Saudi Arabia's war is a pure "war of choice." It has nothing to do with protecting the U.S. homeland. The Obama Administration began U.S. participation in the war as a "favor" to Saudi Arabia, to "compensate" them for accepting the Iran nuclear deal.
- Saudi Arabia's war is helping Al Qaeda, by creating a security vacuum in Yemen, and because Saudi Arabia is allied with Al Qaeda against the Houthi-Saleh alliance in Yemen.
- Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen has pushed Yemen to the brink of famine, creating the largest humanitarian crisis in the world and the worst cholera outbreak in the world. UNICEF says a child is dying in Yemen of preventable causes like malnutrition and diarrhea every ten minutes.

The ACLU has written to Congress urging opposition to pending bills that seek to criminalize advocacy of boycotts against Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The ACLU warned that proponents of the bills are "seeking additional co-sponsors," and explained that the bills would "punish individuals for no reason other than their political beliefs."

MoveOn has joined the ACLU's opposition to the bills. "Regardless how you feel about BDS, Congress must reject action to criminalize free speech and peaceful protest. The Democrats in House and Senate must say no to H.R. 1697/S. 720," MoveOn said. “Free speech and peaceful protest are integral to democracy."

S.720 & H.R.1697 would erase the distinction in U.S. law between Israel and Israeli settlements in the West Bank and make it illegal for U.S. companies to boycott or otherwise discriminate against Israeli settlements in the West Bank based on calls by the United Nations or the European Union.

UN Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed has announced a plan to remove the governorate of Hodeida from the Yemeni civil war. The plan includes a ceasefire for the port, including the halt of any attacks on the port by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates [UAE].

The UN-recognized Yemeni government and Egypt have reportedly announced their support for the plan, but the United States, a key party to the conflict because of its refueling of Saudi and UAE warplanes bombing Yemen, has not yet publicly stated its support. As Democratic Sen. Chris Murphyhas said, "The Saudis simply could not operate this bombing campaign without us. Their planes can't fly without US refueling capacity."

Urge Nikki Haley, US Ambassador to the UN, to publicly state US support for the UN Envoy's plan to save Hodeida and Yemen from famine by signing our petition at MoveOn.